Fitch Ratings Affirms Thermo Electron's Senior Unsecured at 'BBB+'.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. affirms Thermo Electron's (Thermo) 'BBB+' senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. rating and 'BBB' subordinated debt Subordinated Debt A loan (or security) that ranks below other loans (or securities) with regard to claims on assets or earnings. Also known as "junior security" or "subordinated loan". rating in light of the announcement of the proposed acquisition of Kendro Laboratory Products (Kendro), a division of SPX Corporation SPX Corporation (NYSE: SPW) is a Fortune 500 company founded in 1911, and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It owns many technology companies. The corporation is divided into four segments: Flow Technology, Test and Measurement, Thermal Equipment and Services, and , for $833.5 million. The Rating Outlook remains Stable. Thermo will fund the transaction, expected to be completed in the first half of 2005, with a combination of cash and debt proceeds. Although the details of the Kendro acquisition financing are currently uncertain, Thermo's ratings are supported by the company's strong balance sheet, including a low total debt level of approximately $244 million and a large cash and securities balance of approximately $426 million at Oct. 2, 2004, of which a sizable portion may be utilized for acquisition funding. Fitch also gains assurance that the current rating will be preserved given the company's conservative financial policy. Additional liquidity is provided by Thermo's $250 million five-year revolving credit Revolving Credit A line of credit where the customer pays a commitment fee and is then allowed to use the funds when they are needed. It is usually used for operating purposes, fluctuating each month depending on the customers current cash flow needs. facility. Thermo is a well diversified global company focused entirely on instrumentation. After the divestiture The breakup of AT&T. By federal court order, AT&T divested itself on January 1, 1984 of its 23 operating companies, which became known as the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). of the Optical Technologies business in July 2004, the company is divided into two segments: Life and Laboratory Sciences and Measurement and Control. The company provides systems for drug discovery, medical diagnosis, and chemical analysis at ultratrace levels, such as mass spectrophotometers, in addition to rapid clinical diagnostic tests. Thermo also offers online process and quality control systems, real-time sensors, and field-measurement instruments. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion